Adventures in Grandparenting

Back in May or early June, I saw the cutest thing, a bunny sitting in my yard. We see squirrels all the time and I know we have stealthy deer but I have only, on a rare occasion, seen a rabbit. I stood there watching it, smiling and sipping my coffee until suddenly it occurred to me…rabbit…garden….oh no!!!! I was hoping it was just a coincidence, that it was just hopping through my yard on its way to someplace else, like the beach to sun itself. But no, it had taken up residence in a pile of wood scraps my son had assembled at the back of the yard. Why?!! I am not in the woods or even the country. I don’t have a lot of trees or bushes and I live on a noisy street. But the story gets worse, there are two of them! I had visions of rabbits taking over my yard and eating everything green in their sight.

We discussed ways to remove them, humanely. I hoped every time we mowed the lawn that it had somehow scared them away. But they would either hide or return. The good news is that they didn’t seem to be bothering my garden. So, I just ignored them and let them be. Until today.

I have been trying to grow cucumbers for several years. Last summer, the deer came and mowed them down just as they were starting to show promise. This growing season I tried again and I have been able to harvest multiple cucumbers from the vines. But this morning, when I went out to collect a few, this is what I found.

My cucumbers had been nibbled on! This wasn’t a deer. Deer chomp the leaves and stems or just rip the whole plant out of the ground. They are not dainty. No, this was done by a rabbit!

You could hear me mumbling under my breath “that wascally wabbit”. I was stomping around the yard like Elmer Fudd, annoyed at the audacity of this furry creature. Had I been tricked? Had I been lured into a false sense of security?

No matter….because I am now digging out the black, bird netting, the baby powder, the dryer sheets and the coffee grounds (all off these are supposed to help deter animals from eating your garden) and forming an attack plan. We shall see who will outwit whom! That wascally wabbit!

Do you have varmints in your garden and how do you deal with them?

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2 Comments

I fight groundhogs every year. We set live traps and than relocate them. I do have rabbit fencing around the garden, so the rabbits haven’t been a factor at this point. Those pesky groundhogs dig under the fence or find a weak spot in my fencing and enter from there. So frustrating.